The Gong Farmer

From the times of "torche-culs", handfuls of straw or hay, and the "gomphus" a curved stick, comes The Gong Farmer. Many of these workers died of asphyxiation, or due to infections entering open wounds. After Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded in 1618, a small tobacco case was found in his cell, bearing the legend “It was my comfort in those miserable times”. Tobacco was also a great comfort to The Gong Farmers, many of whom became very heavy smokers as a defence to their line of work.